Winged Creatures
by Gallifrey Immigrant
Summary: Darkness is coming to the world. A woman dances. A girl cries. A scientist questions. A Doctor dies.


Charley wiped the blood from her cheek, and raised her head from the velvet frock of the Doctor. Above her, a portal was opening up, and a large bony hand was reaching out. Below the portal, a woman in black Victorian dress danced and sang while the world began to end.

"Why aren't you moving? Why aren't you scared?" screamed Charley at the woman. The woman turned, and gave Charley a sweet, malicious grin.

"Scared? But it's a carnival, dear? Don't be scared of the main attractions!" said the woman. Charley decided she must be insane, and ignored the woman, who was whooping and hollering. A loud sound of wheels turning snapped Charley's attention to Davros, who had wheeled himself to Charley.

"You could have closed the portal and stopped this!" said Charley to the madman. "You didn't, because you wanted to see how the Daleks would evolve. You wanted to see what exposure to the Old Ones would do to them."

Davros didn't even look at Charley, just at the body of the Doctor, who had taken the full force of the blast of energy from the opening portal. At first, she thought he hadn't heard her, until, in a tone of a god who has been forced to talk to a beggar, Davros said "Of course I wanted to see. I evolved the Daleks to be the most ruthless things in the universe, but as a scientist, I must know what happens when the Daleks are exposed to things beyond the universe. If only to satisfy my curiosity." Davros continued to stare at the Doctor's body, and it was driving Charley mad.

"Stop looking at his body. He's clearly been dead now—give him peace," said Charley angrily. She hit Davros's wheelchair with her fist, which actually seemed to surprise him, to Charley's pleasure.

Davros smiled at Charley. "You companions and your hero worship. It's almost cute. If you're lucky, all the blast did is kill him."

"What does that mean?" asked Charley.

At that moment, winged creatures began to come out of the portal. They had rippling feathers made of nearly transparent sickly flesh, and in the middle of their face was a metal eyepiece.

"Well. Dalek birds. What a sight," said the woman. She walked toward Charley, cocking her head at the young Edwardian. "So you were the Doctor's newest pet. Guess you weren't as good at your job as some of the others."

Charley ran at the woman, striking her in the face. She raised her fist to punch again, but the woman grabbed her arm. "Now, now, behave."

Charley moved to kick the woman. The woman dodged her swiftly, and landed a blow to Charley's head. Charley found herself on the floor in an instant, her head in massive pain. The woman was looking down at her, more amused than angry.

Davros had been ignoring this entire display of simian primitiveness, and was observing the portal. "Why did you unlock the dimension before the time we had planned, Missy? I can't control what happens now!" He said Missy's name like it was a curse word.

"Because it would be fun. And because it would be funner to see the world crash all around you in an inferno. You're rather stuck-up. I want to see your face when you make a mistake," said Missy. Her aquiline nose and blue eyes reminded Charley of a predator.

Davros turned to look straight dead at Missy. "Do you think this will stop me?"

"No, but that will," said Missy, pointing behind him. Davros lookec behind him. There was nothing there.

Missy took a blaster from her pocket, and pointed it at Davros, smiling as his flesh broiled. Charley could smell the burning odor of his melted wheelchair.

"Made you look!" said Missy playfully at the dead remnants of Davros.

Charley looked away from the bloody wreck, and saw the Doctor sitting up. She was about to exclaim in joy, but then saw his blood-red eyes. He had no irises, and his frock was black instead of its beautiful green.

What had Davros said? "If you're lucky, all the blast did is killed him."

Suddenly, three of the mutated Daleks swept upon the Doctor. Even when transformed beyond belief, the Daleks recognized their greatest enemy, and they quickly picked him up. The Doctor didn't seem to notice, and looked down at Charley.

He opened his mouth, and no sound came out. But there was a thought transmitted straight into the Charley's brain.

"Run, Charley."

Charley ran. Behind her, she heard the loud sound of what seemed like a horrific version of the Doctor's laugh, and then a ripping sound. Then the laughter stopped.

A hand caught Charley's arm, and she was violently turned around.

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easy," said Missy. Her cheer had been replaced with a cold fury. "You failed the Doctor. He died on your watch. Someone needs to teach you a lesson. So we're going to

have lots of fun together." Missy's aquiline eyes bore into Charley.

The woman delivered another blow to Charley's neck, and Charley began to flow into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw before going black was the Winged Daleks taking the dead corpses of Davros and the Doctor, and twining them together.

The last thing she heard was the Scottish voice of the woman: "Really, I'm doing you a big favor. There's a new harsh world that's been released, my pet. I'm going to teach you how to live in it."


End file.
